Johnny Runge 

I am a Senior Research Fellow at the Policy Institute at King's College London. Previously, I was a Principal Social Researcher at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) and a Topic Lead at the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE).

CV, Twitter.

I research workplace practices, recruitment and pay, especially exploring barriers for disadvantaged groups, such as younger and older workers:

• Through interviews with UK employers, an ongoing project is exploring pay-setting among employers in low-paying sectors (Low Pay Commission, 2022-23).

• Based on interviews and focus groups, this study explores recruitment and retention among senior school leaders (NAEL, 2022-23)

• Through interviews and video diaries with workers, the project explored experiences of working in the hospitality sector in Scotland, including for migrant workers (Fair Work Convention, Scottish Government, 2022-23).

• Through qualitive research with employer and employees, the project explored pay and progression experiences of women aged over 50 in Scotland (Fair Work Convention, Scottish Government, 2021-22).

• Based on interviews with individuals aged 50 to 69 and a survey, this report found that experiences of ageism in the recruitment process are widespread, affecting older jobseekers' confidence, wellbeing and finances. (Centre for Ageing Better, 2020-21) 

• An evidence review examined whether people with protected characteristics experience discrimination in the recruitment process (Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2019-20).

• Through interviews with UK employers, this study explored how employers recruit and employ younger workers, specifically their use of the National Minimum Wage youth rates (Low Pay Commission, 2019).

• Based on interviews with agencies, agency workers and employers, this study described the use of agency workers in the UK public sector (Office for Manpower Economics, 2016-17).   

I study the public understanding of the economy, economics and economic statistics, with emphasis on informing how to improve public communication and engagement among economists and statisticians:

• Based on focus groups and a survey, this report explored public understanding of economics and economic statistics (ESCoE/ONS, 2019-20).

• This project brought economists together with the wider public in workshops, exploring how it can inform approaches to public communication (ESCoE/ONS, 2020-21).

• Based on interviews with the public, the study described how people viewed the economic impacts of Covid in the early stages of the pandemic (ESRC, 2020).

• Through interviews and online experiments with the public and journalists, as well as analysis of media reporting, this project tested how to communicate labour market statistics directly to the wider public, as through the media as an intermediary (ESCoE/ONS, 2021-22).

• Through interviews with the public, this study explored public understanding and attitudes when communicating data uncertainty on unemployment and GDP statistics (ESCoE/ONS, 2021) 

• This study explored the public perceptions of the economic impacts of immigration, through experimental surveys and focus groups (Leverhulme, 2017-18). 

• Based on an online experiment, this research tested visual ways of communicating information about the economic impact of immigration (ESRC, British Academy, Toyota Foundation, 2020-23).

I specialise in evaluation, especially in designing and leading Implementation and Process Evaluations (IPEs):

• Eight evaluation studies, commissioned by the Education Endowment Foundation, have assessed a range of school-based interventions focused on improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. These include: embedding formative assessment (2018, journal paper published in 2022), improving working memory (2019), changing mindset (2019), embedding contextualisation in English and Maths GCSE post-16 (2019), URLEY (2020), Early Years Toolbox (2020), Tips by Text (2022) and Healthy Minds (2022). (Education Endowment Foundation, 2016-2023). 

• Five evaluation studies, commissioned by What Works Centre for Social Care, evaluated different interventions aimed at supporting schools in identifying and responding to safeguarding and child protection issues in schools. The reports covered: individual supervision in primary schools in Bolton (2020-21), individual supervision in secondary schools in Greater Manchester (2021-23) and three national programmes: individual supervision in primary schools (2021-23), group supervision in secondary schools (2021-23), and training and supervision with focus on child sexual abuse (2021-23) (What Works Centre for Social Care, 2020-23).

• Based on interviews, focus groups and surveys with economists and statisticians, a baseline report (2020) assessed the needs, expectations and satisfaction among users of official economic statistics, and explored the monetary value of economic statistics. A follow-up report will be published in 2023, looking at the changes in the past four years.